Sometimes I get obsessed with an idea and have to try it immediately. I found this tutorial on scratch-off paint via Pinterest and thought it would make super sweet Valentine’s cards. I researched a few other tutorials and was confident that I came up with the easiest way to do it. It did not go well.
Exhibit A – the paint got lumpy and despite 10 layers, it did not cover the hidden message (I was going for cheap laughs and had “Clean your room” on one of them for K):
Exhibit B – the hidden message got scratched off as well (it said “i like you. A LOT”):
In case it isn’t obvious, I spend an extraordinary amount of time alone. I don’t mind being solo, and I have a monster to-do list so I’m generally pretty busy. But I find that after a while, all this alone time spent concocting things like scratch-off paint makes my quirkiness downright batty. So I try to schedule at least one lunch/coffee/meet-up per week with a friend to prevent my social skills from completely atrophying.
Yesterday I had a coffee date with one of my favorites of favorites and it got me thinking about friendships. She’s the kind of friend that makes me laugh till my belly aches (she has reduced me to tears of laughter more than once), is genuinely happy for my highs and equally empathetic about my lows. We can go months without seeing each other and slip easily back into un-self-conscious animated chatter. Most notably, she’s the kind of friend who totally gets my need to try bizarre and often pointless projects and would thoroughly appreciate my attempt at DIY scratch paint gone terribly awry.
When I moved to Seattle 11 years ago, I knew no one other than M. I’m no social butterfly, but I’ve always had a good group of friends so it was a shock to discover that for some reason, it was really hard to meet people in this Pacific Northwest city. I longed to have girl talk and to discuss frivolous and serious things in ways that I couldn’t with M. Â I was lonely for many years. Slowly, oh so slowly, I started to connect with like-minded folks, and though it took an incredibly long time, I realized yesterday that I now have a small but solid circle of wonderful friends. All the more reason to celebrate Valentine’s Day!
Anyway, I was talking about scratch-off paint (see what all this solitude is doing?) and I’m off to try again to figure out what went wrong. If you didn’t know they are supposed to be scratch-off-able, they kind of have that homemade charm.
So glad you’ve found a group to “do life” with. As I get older, I realize that both are a gift that fill different needs: a husband who doesn’t always “get it” but tries anyway, and my girlfriends who usually get it without any explanation needed!:)
Exactly, Lucinda! I also have to mention that the crafty/creative community I’ve discovered online is also filling a much longed for need – thanks for being part of that!